AMC premiered The Walking Dead on Oct. 31, 2010, with episode 1, "Days Gone Bye." Showrunner Frank Darabont wrote the teleplay and directed the episode. The episode was featured in 120 countries worldwide and was well-received by critics, some of whom compared the series to ABC's Lost.
The series opens with Sheriff Deputy Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) walking down a deserted highway looking for gas. He spots a small child, who he discovers is a walker, and knows she must be put down. It was a gutsy way to open a series and it worked!
The episode jumps back to an incident that finds Rick severely wounded in a shoot out with a group of criminals. His best friend and co-worker Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal) is also invloved but avoids being shot. Rick's injury puts him into a coma and when we wakes, the world has drastically changed.
Unsure why the hospital is empty, save for a cafeteria full of things groaning loudly, he exits the hospital to an empty world. He encounters what has come to be known as the Bicycle walker, a walker missing her legs; he would later return to apologize for what happened and put her out of her misery. He meets with Morgan Jones (Lennie James) and his son Duane (Adrian Kali Turner), who help him and explain what has happened with the rising of the dead.
The decide to head to Atlanta, as there had been rumors of a refugee camp there. Rick's main objective is to locate his wife Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) and son Carl (Chandler Riggs). After securing weapons from the now abandoned Sheriff's office, Rick heads to Atlanta with plans to meet Morgan and Duane there in a few days.
On his way to Atlanta, he runs out of gas and finds a farmhouse where the owner had killed his wife and then himself. Rick takes their horse and makes his way to Atlanta, where a massive horde of the undead meets him. He takes shelter in an army tank when a voice comes over the radio. "Hey, you. Dumbass. Yeah, you in the tank. Are you cozy in there?"
And that was the beginning of The Walking Dead series. All eleven seasons of The Walking Dead is currently streaming on Netflix.
A fun piece of trivia: "Space Junk" by Wang Chung was featured in the final scene of the episode right after Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun) is heard over the radio. The song would be used again in season 9, "What Comes After," as Rick and Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) are airlifted by a CRM (Civic Republic Military) helicopter.
